Survivor: Micronesia · Season 16

Episode Guide

How Survivor: Micronesia unfolded, week by week.

1“You Guys Are Dumber Than You Look”Feb 7, 2008Twenty players, ten returning Favorites against ten new Fans, kick off one of the show's sharpest returnee experiments. But the most hyped name barely sticks around: Jonny Fairplay, the Pearl Islands villain, decides he'd rather get home to his pregnant girlfriend than play, and essentially asks his tribe to vote him out. They oblige, and Fairplay is gone first, 9-1, the biggest pre-season story over before it even starts.
2“The Sounds of Jungle Love”Feb 14, 2008The Fans drop their first immunity, and the Airai tribe is already a tangle of cross-currents, with Joel starting to steer things. Mary Sartain, an undercover cop trying to keep a low profile, can't find solid footing in the new alliances. When the votes come in, Mary is blindsided out.
3“I Should Be Carried on the Chariot-Type Thing!”Feb 21, 2008The Favorites lose, and the shocker is who they turn on: Yau-Man Chan, the beloved fan favorite plenty of people picked to win. The Ozzy-led faction reads the crafty veteran as too dangerous to carry around and decides to strike early. Yau-Man is blindsided out in a stunner, dumped long before anyone saw it coming.
4“That's Baked, Barbecued and Fried!”Feb 28, 2008Airai keeps losing, and Joel's strong-guy alliance tightens its grip on the Fans tribe. Mikey B Bortone lands on the wrong side of Joel's numbers with no way to swing them back. When the tribe votes, Mikey is sent out as Joel runs the show.
5“He's a Ball of Goo!”Mar 6, 2008A tribe swap reshuffles the two camps, and it backfires hard on Joel Anderson. Now mixed in with the women who are starting to band together, the dominant Fan suddenly finds the numbers flipped against him. Joel is blindsided out, the women's first real power move and a sign of who's actually taking control.
6“It Hit Everyone Pretty Hard”Mar 13, 2008A double-exit night that opens with a medical scare. Jonathan Penner's knee has gotten badly infected, and after the challenge the medical team pulls him for emergency surgery, ending his game on a medevac. The tribe still has a vote to make, and Chet Welch, injured and struggling to keep up, is the one voted out, two players gone in a single rough night.
7“Like a Wide-Eyed Kid in the Candy Store”Mar 19, 2008Another night with two departures. First, Kathy Sleckman, overwhelmed by personal circumstances, decides to walk away from the game on her own. Then the tribe heads to a vote, where Tracy Hughes-Wolf pushes hard to take a shot at Ozzy, only for it to backfire and swing the target onto her. Tracy is voted out as the anti-Ozzy gambit collapses.
8“A Lost Puppy Dog”Apr 3, 2008Right before the merge, the Favorites' majority decides one of their own has become a liability. Ami Cusack, seen as too independent to fully trust, draws the alliance's attention, while the lone Fan left standing, Erik, talks fast to save himself. The Favorites take out Ami over Erik, sacrificing one of their own on the doorstep of the merge.
9“I'm in Such a Hot Pickle!”Apr 10, 2008The merge arrives as Dabu, and the season's most famous fake idol finally pays off. Ozzy had found the real idol and planted a decoy, a stick wrapped in fabric, out on Exile; Jason Siska found the fake, believed it was real, and passed it to Eliza for safekeeping. Suspicious it might be a dud, Eliza plays it at Tribal to call Ozzy's bluff, and it turns out to be exactly the worthless stick it looks like. Eliza is voted out as the first member of the jury.
10“I Promise...”Apr 17, 2008Ozzy Lusth has been the most dominant player in the game, holding the real hidden idol and trusting his alliance completely, which is precisely what does him in. The Black Widow Brigade, with Parvati holding immunity as cover, quietly flips the numbers and turns on him. Ozzy is blindsided 5-4 with the real idol still in his pocket, one of the great falls the game has ever produced.
11“I'm Ruthless... and Have a Smile on My Face”Apr 24, 2008At the Survivor auction, Jason Siska is now sitting on the real hidden idol and feeling safe heading into the vote. But the Black Widow Brigade keeps picking off the men, and Jason badly misreads the danger. He's blindsided to the jury with the idol still in his pocket, the second player in a row to go down without ever playing it.
12“I'm Gonna Fix Her!”May 1, 2008Another double-exit, and another medevac. James Clement, the season's strongman, has a finger infection turn dangerous, and medical pulls him from the game after the reward challenge. Then the alliance starts cannibalizing itself: Amanda plays a hidden idol to wipe out the votes coming her way, and Alexis Jones, one of the Black Widows, is the one sent to the jury instead.
13“If It Smells Like a Rat, Give It Cheese”May 8, 2008This is the one everyone remembers. Erik Reichenbach, the last man standing, wins individual immunity at the final five, the one thing that guarantees he can't be sent home. Then the four women talk him into believing the way to prove his loyalty is to hand his necklace to Natalie. So he does it. He gives away the only thing keeping him safe, and the women vote him out on the spot, 4-1, in the most infamous blunder the game has ever seen.
14“Stir the Pot!”FinaleMay 11, 2008Finale night, and Amanda Kimmel makes the move that shapes it: she wins the final immunity and cuts Cirie Fields, the biggest jury threat left, sending the season to a final two instead of three. Natalie Bolton goes next, leaving Parvati and Amanda to face the jury. Parvati makes the case that she authored every big move the Black Widows pulled off, and the jury rewards her aggressive, charming game over Amanda's quieter one, 5-3, crowning Parvati the Sole Survivor.